According to this study, exercise had little to no effect on relieving symptoms in people with depression and while it made the participants healthier due to increased physical activity, it did nothing with regards to improving mood, at least in this particular sample. There’s also the case that if you have a chemical imbalance causing your depression or mood disorder (such as with pituitary gland and other hormonal disorders) or certain genetic predispositions, it may mean that your body can’t produce enough dopamine or other endorphins naturally anyway, so exercise is just going to make you feel tired and sore but with none of the ‘runner’s high’ effects.
I hate exercising for this reason, but obviously I still do it to keep my body healthy (or at least as healthy as it can be).
The idea of ‘dopamine addiction’ is just PopSci bullshit though. The reason we’re ‘addicted’ to our phones is because of alienation in late-stage capitalist society leading to us trying to find some semblance of enjoyment or control over our own lives.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22674921/
According to this study, exercise had little to no effect on relieving symptoms in people with depression and while it made the participants healthier due to increased physical activity, it did nothing with regards to improving mood, at least in this particular sample. There’s also the case that if you have a chemical imbalance causing your depression or mood disorder (such as with pituitary gland and other hormonal disorders) or certain genetic predispositions, it may mean that your body can’t produce enough dopamine or other endorphins naturally anyway, so exercise is just going to make you feel tired and sore but with none of the ‘runner’s high’ effects.
I hate exercising for this reason, but obviously I still do it to keep my body healthy (or at least as healthy as it can be).
The idea of ‘dopamine addiction’ is just PopSci bullshit though. The reason we’re ‘addicted’ to our phones is because of alienation in late-stage capitalist society leading to us trying to find some semblance of enjoyment or control over our own lives.